Communications over multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) channels has been the subject of intense research in recent years and has emerged as one of the most significant breakthroughs in modern communications. Communications over MIMO channels can support significantly higher data rates and greater reliability relative to communications using single-input-single-output (SISO) channels. MIMO-based communications may help, for example; to resolve the bottleneck problem limiting traffic capacity in future Internet-intensive wireless networks. Many researchers also believe that MIMO-based technology is poised to penetrate large-scale, standards-driven commercial wireless products and networks such as broadband wireless access systems, wireless local area networks (WLAN), and third-generation (3G) as well as fourth-generation (4G) networks.
An essential feature of a MIMO communications system is that, by appropriately coding signals transmitted from multiple transmitting antennas to multiple receiving antennas, the system is able to turn multipath-propagation—long a problem in wireless communications—into an advantage. MIMO communications systems take advantage of random channel fading and, when possible, multipath delay spread to increase channel capacity. This is accomplished by combining at a receiver the signals transmitted from multiple transmitting antennas to multiple receiving antennas so as to increase quality in terms of the bit-error rate (BER) or the data rate (bits per second). The prospect of improvements of orders of magnitude relative to more conventional communications systems is one reason for the increased interest in MIMO-based technologies.
With respect to transceivers, most research to date has focused on linear transceiver designs. According to conventional linear transceiver designs, a channel matrix that models the characteristics of a transmission channel is diagonalized using the known technique of singular value decomposition (SVD) in order to maximize channel throughput. This conventional approach, however, can add considerable complexity to the modulation-demodulation and coding-decoding procedures needed to successfully convey signals over multiple subchannels resulting from the SVD. For example, to achieve a desired channel capacity, the MIMO system must perform bit allocation to match each subchannel capacity.
Bit allocation not only complicates the needed modulation but also reduces capacity due to the granularity of a finite symbol constellation corresponding to the coding scheme employed. Alternatively, if the same symbol constellation is used for each subchannel, as for example according to the HIPERLAN/2 and IEEE 802.11 standards for WLANs, then more power should be allocated to the poorer or less robust subchannels. Using the same constellation for each subchannel can lead to significant performance degradation. The conventional linear transceiver designs, therefore, pose a tradeoff between channel capacity and performance in terms of BER if the complexity of bit allocation is to be avoided. It follows that there is a need for an effective and efficient alternative to conventional linear transceiver designs.